Overview

This course aims to introduce participants to rival theoretical perspectives in critically understanding the past and the present Middle East by providing a comparative historical insight on the general representation of Turkey and the Middle East as an “exception” and an “unfitting geography.

In this perspective, the course starts with an introduction and critique of orientalism as it is an intellectual component of the Western colonialism in the Middle East. Then, it focuses on the post-World War II setting in the region through a comparative analysis of three countries: Iran, Egypt and Syria. Furthermore, after elaborating the conflicts between the Arab and Israeli, it discusses the general question of democratization in the Middle East through a detailed analysis of the Arab Spring, including its background and outcomes.